PELLA—And the list grows.
           
Highly decorated Central College quarterback Blaine Hawkins (5th-year, Ankeny) received another distinctive honor Tuesday, becoming the school's 16th player named to the American Football Coaches Association Division III All-America team.
           
An AFCA release indicated that Hawkins headlines the squad as a first-team selection.
           
Hawkins set an NCAA all-divisions record with 63 touchdown passes this season. In 13 games, he completed 331 of 468 passes (70.7%) for 4,475 yards and eight interceptions while posting a passing efficiency rating of 192.1. He also rushed for 230 yards and five touchdowns on 83 carries.
He was earlier named the American Rivers Offensive Player of the Year for the second time and is a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy as the top player in Division III, which will be announced later this week. He was a first-team D3football.com all-region honoree and was also a semifinalist for the William V. Campbell Trophy as the nation's top football scholar-athlete as chosen by the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame. He was named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for the second time as well and is under consideration for Academic All-America® distinction.
In 2021, Hawkins led Division III in touchdown passes (63) and points responsible for (410) while ranking second in passing yards (4,475) and total offense (4,705 yards), third in passing efficiency (192.1), fourth in completion percentage (70.7) and fifth in yards per pass attempt (9.56).
           
In Division III history he's tied for second in career touchdown passes (148), seventh in season passing yards (4.475), 11th in career passing efficiency (175.32) and 13th in career passing yards (11,802). He racked up more than twice as many career passing yards as all but one quarterback in Central history, Tim Connell (2004-07), who ranks a distant second with 6,181 yards.
           
He set school records for a game, season and career in passing yards, pass completions, pass completion percentage, touchdown passes, passing attempts and total offense. He also set school marks for consecutive passes without an interception (251, April 3-Oct. 30), consecutive games with six or more touchdown passes (6), consecutive games with five or more touchdown passes (8) and season games with 300 yards passing or more (7). He posted a 38-6 career record as Central's starting quarterback.
           
Hawkins engineered a Dutch offense that ranked first in Division III in total offense (570.1 yards per game), passing offense (394.5 yards) and first downs (382) while ranking second in completion percentage (70.9) and scoring offense (53.5).
           
A two-time team co-captain and Heerema-Schilder Award winner as team MVP (2018, 2019), Hawkins helped lead Central to its record 32nd conference championship and 22nd NCAA playoff berth. The Dutch were 10-0 in the regular season and finished 12-1 overall, reaching the NCAA quarterfinals.
           
Hawkins also set NCAA Division III records for career touchdowns responsible for (rushing/passing) (176) and for most touchdown passes in a half (7, at Simpson, Sept. 25).
           
The AFCA has selected an All-America team annually since 1945, first choosing a college division squad in 1946 and launching a Division III team in 1996. Only one team was selected in each division until 2016, when a second team was added.
           
It's the second consecutive season that a Central player was cited—no team was named in 2020 due to the global pandemic. Kicker Jon Alberts was selected in 2019. Central players have been selected 17 times, with offensive tackle Jeff Helle (1993, 1994) the school's only two-time pick. Hawkins is the first Central quarterback chosen.
           
Central's 16 honorees and 17 selections rank 13th among all Division III schools. The Dutch are the only Iowa program in the top 25 on that list.

Central's AFCA Division III All-Americans
1974--Al Dorenkamp, LB
1977--Don Taylor, TB
1984--Scott Froehle, DB
1985--Rich Thomas, NG
1988--Mike Stumberg, NG
1989--Kris Reis, LB
1990--Ron Saak, LB
1992--Bill Mulder, LB
1993--Jeff Helle, OT
1994--Jeff Helle, OT
1995--Rick Sanger, LB
1996--Mark Kacmarynski, TB
1998--Andrew Paulsen, DB
2000--Jeff Sanger, LB
2014--Jacob Edleman, DB
2019—Jon Alberts, K
2021—Blaine Hawkins, QB